Groundhogs spend the winter months hibernating, then Phil gets plucked out of his slumber to do a morning's worth of work. As far as history is concerned, the groundhog tends to make random predictions.

"Unfortunately, there have been years where the president has misinterpreted what Phil said", former handler Ron Ploucha told pennlive.com "Because Phil's never wrong, Phil's prediction is 100 percent correct, and we blame the variants on the president's interpretation of Phil's prediction".

Since 2010, Phil has only predicted an early arrival of spring three times.

"There is no way that this winter is ever going to end as long as this groundhog keeps seeing his shadow". Tradition says that if the animal sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather.

Groundhog Day originated from the Christian celebration Candlemas Day, which marked the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

The tradition came to North America when German immigrants arrived in what is now the eastern state of Pennsylvania.

When is Groundhog Day 2018? Here, Phil spends time in a man-made burrow with his wife, Phyllis.

But anyone who lives here - or who's spent a whole lot of time here - knows that for one short period of time, the whole world is watching and waiting for Phil to do his thing.

Though it is not an official American holiday, it is largely observed throughout the country and celebrations are common.

Phil's prognostication, which was delivered at about 7:20 am EST, was met with a mix of cheers and groans from thousands of revelers on Friday who gathered in the town of Punxsutawney about 80 miles (120 km) northeast of Pittsburgh. It has a population of less than 6,000 and was founded in 1818.

We also learned something else: the average temperature is trending warmer and warmer every year.

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